I know this changes from person to person and everyone will have a different answer, but i'm just curious how long it took you guys to get "good" while taking guitar seriously. I understand being good is subjective to what the individual player believes is good. I know this will also depend on what style of music you mainly play (jazz, metal, classical, etc.) so maybe include your main style too? I'm just curious how long it took most people on average.

I kind of felt like I was pretty good after like 3 or 4 years, but just recently (after like 8 almost 9 years playing) it's gotten to a point where I'll do something and impress myself with it, and that's pretty exciting when it happens.

Even though I perform in front of people, like most, I feel like there's always room to improve. So, would I consider myself good? I'm good enough to play for an audience, but always working at my craft to improve it.

I've been playing for 4 years now, I know I cam a long way but i was expecting to be a guitar god in 4 years, now I see myslefas an average player, but I'm happy and I will keep practicing, hopefully reaching the desired goal as soon as possible, which at this point feels like another 4 years.

When I started, I would have probably considered where I am to be "good". Now, however, there are so many ways I know I want to improve. I kinda think if you think yourself to be finished and nothing more to learn, you're doing something wrong.

When I started, I would have probably considered where I am to be "good". Now, however, there are so many ways I know I want to improve. I kinda think if you think yourself to be finished and nothing more to learn, you're doing something wrong.

Exactly the same, if you showed me playing now to me when I started I'd probably have thought I was some kind of golden god but now... nah. I'm alright, good enough to play live in a band I would want to listen to but nowhere near as good as I want to be

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Exactly the same, if you showed me playing now to me when I started I'd probably have thought I was some kind of golden god but now... nah. I'm alright, good enough to play live in a band I would want to listen to but nowhere near as good as I want to be

I've been playing for 5 years now and am disappointed in myself for not really progressing much in the last 1-2 years. I feel I could confidently play a Green Day style gig and some Black Keys songs as most of the chord and note changes from the earlier stuff pretty much match the structure of the lyrics but I really want to be at a Keith Urban/Matt Bellamy standard and right I feel I never will be.

@NickVarney90: Why not? Focus yourself on Muse for a while and you'll become a lot better playing in the style of Matt Bellamy. The key word here is 'focus'. Without focus there's no hocus pocus

I can play a few Muse songs (Hysteria, Panic Station, Time Is Running Out) but I suppose what I meant was more his accuracy and precision rather than just his style. I'm currently practicing songs where I need to go from a chord at the low end and going into a solo and landing on the right fret.

My definition of "good" changes as I get older. Being a "good" guitar player is something that has ever been just out of my reach. I've been playing for about 17 years without missing more than a handful of days.

The guitar has such limitless possibilities that I doubt I'll ever reach the point where I say "Alright, I've now mastered the instrument. All I have to do now is just enjoy my phenomenal skillz."

However, if you're going to define being a "good" guitarist by non-guitarist/non-musician's standards, I think I became quite "good" after about 3 years. Meaning, I could play stuff people heard on the radio.

I really want to be at a Keith Urban/Matt Bellamy standard and right I feel I never will be.

I think if you feel like you never will be, then you never will be. So much about playing guitar is mental, and it's easy to hit mental blocks where you screw up purely because you don't think you can do something.

The best thing to do, in my opinion, is to aim higher than where you want to be. I wouldn't look to Matt Bellamy as a model for "accuracy and precision" (not that he's a bad guitarist, but his style is a lot... looser than players that I would call accurate and precise). I used to find a lot of Metallica stuff quite hard until I stopped thinking "I can't play Metallica stuff" and decided to learn some Dream Theater

I'm not saying you should go for the hardest thing ever straight away, but if you look to players that you would consider to be godlike rather than simply really good, you'll find that you pick up stuff that ultimately makes easier stuff really really easy. Of course, the new problem is that then your definition of "good" suddenly shifts.

In answer to the initial question, some days I think I'm really good, others I think I'm terrible, like what "My Last Words" said though slightly less extreme on both sides As everyone has said, your definition of good is constantly shifting to just above where you're currently at.

A good way to always feel satisfied with your progress is to work on stuff that you're not very good at. I've found that for some reason I always try to work on stuff that I'm always pretty good at and that just leaves you feeling pretty defeated as it's hard to make progress, and you still suck at the things you suck at. Work on the things you're no good at and not only will your skills in those areas improve, you'll also be a more rounded player and feel much more comfortable with the instrument. Once you've improved your lesser skills to the level (or almost the level of) your best ones, you'll find the ones you'd previously plateau'd at are easier to work on.